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Stephen Elliott~Buckley<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/youranoncentral.bsky.social" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>youranoncentral.bsky.social</span></a></span> </p><p>Musk is the king of picking losers</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/neverpoilievre" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neverpoilievre</span></a> <br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/BigHands" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BigHands</span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AfDGermany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AfDGermany</span></a> </p><p>Maybe he watched Vin Diesel's XXX movie a few too many times?</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/antifa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>antifa</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fascism</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/romania" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>romania</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/germany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>germany</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>canada</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/americanfascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>americanfascism</span></a></p>
Europe Says<p><a href="https://www.europesays.com/1799703/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="">europesays.com/1799703/</span><span class="invisible"></span></a> immigration policies Germany: Elon Musk backs Germany’s AfD campaign launch amid protests <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/AfdGermany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AfdGermany</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/AliceWeidel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AliceWeidel</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/AlternativeForGermany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlternativeForGermany</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/DonaldTrump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DonaldTrump</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/ElonMusk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ElonMusk</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/GermanGovernment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GermanGovernment</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/germany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>germany</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/GermanyDemocracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GermanyDemocracy</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/GermanyElections2025" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GermanyElections2025</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/ImmigrationPoliciesGermany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ImmigrationPoliciesGermany</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/PoliticalProtestsGermany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PoliticalProtestsGermany</span></a></p>
Sky Dancing<p><strong>Lazy Caturday Reads</strong></p><p><strong>Happy Winter Solstice!!</strong></p> <p></p><p>Lesley Ivory, Dandelion, Snowdrop and the Devon Christmas Market</p> <p>The House and Senate passed the bill to fund the government for 3 more months, thanks to Democratic votes. After unelected President Musk sabotaged the original bipartisan bill, it was touch and go, but the House and Senate both passed a compromise spending bill at the very last minute last night. The Hill: <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5051634-government-funding-shutdown-house-bill/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">House passes bill to avert government shutdown after whirlwind funding fight</a>.</p><blockquote><p>The House approved legislation to avert a government shutdown hours before the deadline Friday, sending the bill to the Senate for consideration after a whirlwind week on Capitol Hill.</p><p>The chamber voted 366-34-1 in support of the legislation, clearing the two-thirds threshold needed for passage since GOP leadership brought the bill to the floor under the fast-track suspension of the rules process. All Democrats except one — Rep.&nbsp;<span class=""><a class="" href="https://thehill.com/people/jasmine-crockett/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jasmine Crockett&nbsp;</a></span>(Texas), who voted present — joined 170 Republicans in voting yes….</p><p>Speaker&nbsp;<span class=""><a class="" href="https://thehill.com/people/mike-johnson/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mike Johnson&nbsp;</a></span>(R-La.), after the vote, lauded the legislation as “‘America First’ legislation because it allows us to be set up to deliver for the American people.”</p><p>“In January, we will make a sea change in Washington.&nbsp;<span class=""><a class="" href="https://thehill.com/people/donald-trump/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">President Trump&nbsp;</a></span>will return to D.C. and to the White House, and we will have Republican control of the Senate and the House. Things are going to be very different around here. This was a necessary step to bridge the gap, to put us into that, that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final decisions on spending for 2025,” he said.</p><p><a href="https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20241216/ARA%2012.20.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The package</a>&nbsp;— which Johnson&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5051288-johnson-government-funding-shutdown-plan-b/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rolled out shortly before the vote</a>&nbsp;— would fund the government at current levels through March 14, extend the farm bill for one year and appropriate billions of dollars in disaster relief and assistance for farmers.</p><p>The legislation does not, however, include language to increase the debt limit, an eleventh-hour demand from President-elect Trump that hurled a curveball into the sensitive government funding negotiations.</p></blockquote> <p></p><p>By Jamie Morath</p> <p>Late last night, the Senate also passed the bill, averting a Christmas government shutdown. The New York Times: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/20/us/government-shutdown-trump-news" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Transition Updates: Senate Approves Stopgap Funding Bill Just After Shutdown Deadline</a>.</p><blockquote><p>The Senate approved legislation to avert a federal government shutdown just after a midnight deadline, capping a chaotic week in which President-elect Donald J. Trump blew up a bipartisan spending deal, only to see his own preferred plan collapse as Republicans defied him.</p><p>President Biden is expected to sign the measure, which would extend funding into mid-March and approve disaster relief for parts of the nation still recovering from storms. The White House said early Saturday that it was not instituting a government shutdown, even though funding to run the government technically ran out at midnight.</p></blockquote><p>Thanks to Musk and his puppet Trump, funding for pediatric cancer research was cut out of the House bill, but the Senate passed the legislation in a separate bill last night. Bloomberg: <a href="https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/senate-oks-childhood-cancer-bill-after-leaving-off-stopgap-deal" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Senate OKs Childhood Cancer Bill After Leaving Off Stopgap Deal.</a></p> <ul><li><blockquote><p>More than $60 million toward childhood cancer research</p></blockquote></li><li><blockquote><p>GOP stripped it out of stopgap funding bill in push for cuts</p></blockquote></li></ul> <blockquote><p>The Senate passed legislation late Friday that would reauthorize pared-back funding for childhood cancer research after the bipartisan program briefly became a political flash point.</p><p>The Senate’s version of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0 was originally tacked on to a 1,547-page short-term stopgap government funding bill congressional leaders unveiled Tuesday. The program was dropped from the compromise measure after billionaire Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump claimed the deal contained unnecessary spending.</p><p>Democrats specifically highlighted the cut in cancer research to suggest the GOP favored tax cuts and the bottom line over sick children.</p></blockquote><p>The Senate also passed a bill to broaden Social Security benefits. CBS News: <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-security-fairness-act-senate-vote-passed/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Senate approves bill to expand Social Security to millions of Americans.</a></p><blockquote><p>Legislation to expand Social Security benefits to millions of Americans passed the U.S. Senate early Saturday and is now headed to the desk of President Biden, who is expected to sign the measure into law.</p><p>Senators voted 76-20 for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/82" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Social Security Fairness Act</a>, which would&nbsp;<span class=""><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-security-fairness-act-restore-benefits/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">eliminate two federal policies</a></span>&nbsp;that prevent nearly 3 million people, including police officers, firefighters, postal workers, teachers and others with a public pension, from collecting their full Social Security benefits. The legislation has been decades in the making, as the Senate held its first hearings into the policies in 2003.&nbsp;</p><p>“The Senate finally corrects a 50-year mistake,” proclaimed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, after senators approved the legislation at 12:15 a.m. Saturday.</p><p>The bill’s passage is “a monumental victory for millions of public service workers who have been denied the full benefits they’ve rightfully earned,” said Shannon Benton, executive director for the Senior Citizens League, which advocates for retirees and which has long pushed for the expansion of Social Security benefits. “This legislation finally restores fairness to the system and ensures the hard work of teachers, first responders and countless public employees is truly recognized.”</p><p>The vote came down to the wire, as the Senate looked to wrap up its current session. Senators rejected four amendments and a budgetary point of order late Friday night that would have derailed the measure, given the small window of time left to pass it.&nbsp;</p></blockquote><p>Explanation of the Social Security Fairness Act:</p><blockquote><p>The Social Security Fairness Act would repeal two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) — that reduce Social Security payments to nearly 3 million retirees.</p><p>That includes those who also collect pensions from state and federal jobs that aren’t covered by Social Security, including teachers, police officers and U.S. postal workers. The bill would also end a second provision that reduces Social Security benefits for those workers’ surviving spouses and family members. The WEP impacts about&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RS/98-35" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2 million</a>&nbsp;Social Security beneficiaries and the GPO nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL32453/41" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">800,000</a>&nbsp;retirees.</p><p>The measure, which passed the House in November, had 62 cosponsors when it was introduced in the Senate last year. Yet the bill’s bipartisan support eroded in recent days, with some Republican lawmakers voicing doubts due to its cost. According&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-09/hr82.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">to</a>&nbsp;the Congressional Budget Office, the proposed legislation would add a projected $195 billion to federal deficits over a decade.&nbsp;</p></blockquote><p>Musk and his puppet learned that they aren’t in charge of legislating, not that that will stop President Musk from trying to boss everyone around. Eric Levitz at Vox: <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/392278/government-shutdown-fight-spending-bill-trump-musk-house-republicans" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">House Republicans just exposed the limits of Trump’s power. That bodes poorly for his agenda next year</a>.</p><blockquote><p>This week’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/392184/trump-musk-congress-spending-debt-ceiling" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">installment</a>&nbsp;of the long-running saga, “House Republicans cannot govern,” will soon be forgotten. Elon Musk’s decision to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/us/politics/elon-musk-spending-bill-fact-check.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blow up</a>&nbsp;a bipartisan agreement to keep the government funded through the sheer power of posting (and the latent threat posed by his immense wealth), Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-calls-abolishing-debt-ceiling-rcna184820" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">suddenly calling</a>&nbsp;for the abolition of the debt limit, House Republican Chip Roy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-rep-chip-roy-defies-donald-trump-with-rant-against-his-own-party/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">telling</a>&nbsp;his colleagues that they lack “an ounce of self-respect” — all these dramas will surely give way to even more ridiculous ones in the new year.</p><p>But this week’s government funding fight also revealed something that could have profound implications for the next four years of governance: Trump’s power over the congressional GOP is quite limited.</p> <p>This did not appear to be the case just days ago. On Wednesday, Trump joined Elon Musk in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-elon-musk-bipartisan-funding-bill-government-shutdown/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">calling</a>&nbsp;on House Republicans to scrap a bipartisan spending deal that would have kept the government funded through March, increased disaster relief, and funded pediatric cancer research, among many other things. Despite the fact that the GOP needs buy-in from the Senate’s Democratic majority in order to pass any legislation — and failure to pass a spending bill by Saturday would mean a government shutdown — House Republicans heeded Trump’s call to nix the carefully negotiated compromise.</p> <p>If Trump had little difficulty persuading his co-partisans to block one spending bill, however, he proved less adept at getting them to support a different one.</p><p>On Thursday, in coordination with Trump, the House GOP unveiled a new funding bill, one shorn of all Democratic priorities. Over social media, the president-elect&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/us/politics/trump-republicans-spending-bill.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">instructed</a>&nbsp;his party to “vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!” Then, 38 House Republicans voted against the legislation, which was more than enough to sink it amid nearly unified Democratic opposition.</p><p>House conservatives’ defiance of Trump is partly attributable to ideological differences. The president-elect’s objections to Wednesday’s bipartisan agreement were distinct from those of his donor Elon Musk or the House GOP’s hardliners. The latter disdained the spending bill’s&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1869865296376303763" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">page count</a>&nbsp;and fiscal cost. Trump, by contrast, appeared more preoccupied with the legislation’s failure to increase — or eliminate — the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/5/6/23707949/debt-ceiling-crisis-budget-deal-questions" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">debt limit</a>.</p> </blockquote><p>Trump wanted the debt limit raised for his first two years so he could give more tax cuts to billionaires, but Republicans refused to go along with that. Read the rest at Vox.</p><p>The latest shock posting from President Musk was a tweet supporting a neo-Nazi party in Germany. Then last night a man who is a fan of both AfD and Musk perpetrated a deadly terror attack. Dakinikat wrote about this yesterday.&nbsp;</p><p>The Washington Post on the attack in Germany: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/12/21/germany-christmas-market-attack-suspect-magdeburg/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">German Christmas market attack toll rises to five dead, over 200 injured.</a></p><blockquote><p>At least five people were killed and more than 200 wounded after a man plowed a car into a Christmas market in the central German city of Magdeburg, German leaders said Saturday, hours after authorities identified the suspect as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who officials said had expressed anti-Islamic views.</p> <p>Reiner Haseloff, the premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, confirmed the new toll during a visit to the scene of Friday’s incident. A child is among the dead.</p> <p>German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who appeared alongside Haseloff, said almost 40 of the casualties “are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”</p> <p></p><p>Getting Together, by Pat Scott</p> <p><span>Scholz noted that the attack took place just days before Christmas, and that normally “there is no place more peaceful or cheerful than a Christmas market.”</span></p><p>“What a terrible act it is, to kill and injure so many people with such brutality,” Scholz said, adding that it is important that the country “stays together” and did “not allow those who wish to sow hate” to do so.</p> <p>The suspect, Abdulmohsen, who arrived in Germany in 2006, had expressed anti-Islam views and described himself as a Saudi dissident, according to a German official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation.</p> <p>Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters Saturday the investigation was ongoing, and “we can only say with certainty that the perpetrator was obviously Islamophobic,” according to Zeit newspaper and Reuters news agency.</p> </blockquote> <p>CNN has more details about the attack in live updates: <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/magdeburg-germany-christmas-market-attack-12-21-24/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Saudi man arrested following German market attack.</a></p> <p>I wonder how long Trump is going to put up with Musk stealing his spotlight? The guy shows up wherever Trump is and whomever he’s meeting with. Check this out from Jacob Bryant at The Wrap (via Yahoo News): <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/elon-musk-crashing-trump-jeff-003448333.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elon Musk Crashing Trump’s Jeff Bezos Dinner at Mar-a-Lago Mocked as ‘Deranged.’</a></p><blockquote><p>The jealousy bone might appeared to have bitten Elon Musk Wednesday, as he reportedly crashed the widely publicized dinner between President-elect Donald Trump and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.</p><p>Trump’s Mar-a-Lago hosted the dinner dinner for the politician and billionaire, but the two didn’t have privacy for long before Musk appeared. According to the&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/us/politics/trump-elon-musk-bezos-mar-a-lago.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, the X CEO “was not initially expected to be part of the dinner but joined as it was underway.”</p><p>Reactions online to the apparent power move were swift and cutting, with late night hosts and social media commentators mocking Musk as “deranged” and “creepy,” among other unflattering conclusions. The tech mogul was dragged up and down, with many saying it seemed like he was worried about his ongoing “bromance” with the president-elect.</p><p>“This two-week bromance is going to fall apart more spectacularly than any in history,” journalist and author Seth Abramson wrote on Bluesky. “Elon Musk is so deranged and creepy — and such a clueless stalker — that he actually crashed a private dinner between Donald Trump and Musk rival Jeff Bezos. I can’t imagine how livid that made both Trump and Bezos.”</p><p>He continued his post: “What it also confirms is that Musk not only has no boundaries and believes himself Trump’s superior but has no intention of permitting any other plutocrat to squeeze more juice out of Trump than him. Showing up at that dinner uninvited is a power play intended to cow both other oligarchs and Trump.”</p><p>Musk’s choice to crash Trump and Bezos’ meal was a dinner bell to the various late night hosts out there, as well. Just about every single one of them had a joke or two to crack at Musk’s expense this week, with Seth Meyer’s warning Trump he got “‘Cable Guy’-ed” – a reference to the 1996 Jim Carrey stalker comedy.</p><p>“Oh my god, you let him do you a favor<em>,</em>&nbsp;and now you can’t get rid of him — you got ‘Cable Guy’-ed by Elon Musk,” Meyers said. “Every time you look out that little keyhole, he gonna be there.”</p><p>Jimmy Fallon pondered how these two rival billionaires could claim custody of the president-elect. The answer came from another ’90s classic: “Air Bud.”</p><p>“To settle who he loves more, Elon and Bezos are going to put Trump down in the middle of the room and see who he goes to first: ‘All right, here boy!’” Fallon joked.</p></blockquote><p>Finally, Have you heard about the new information on Clarence Thomas’s corruption? The Guardian: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/21/ethics-inquiry-supreme-court" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New ethics inquiry details more trips by Clarence Thomas paid for by wealthy benefactors.</a></p><blockquote><p>A nearly two-year investigation by Democratic senators of supreme court ethics details more luxury travel by Justice&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/clarence-thomas" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Clarence Thomas</a>&nbsp;and urges Congress to establish a way to enforce a new code of conduct.</p><p>Any movement on the issue appears unlikely as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Republicans</a>&nbsp;prepare to take control of the Senate in January, underscoring the hurdles in imposing restrictions on a separate branch of government even as public confidence in the court has fallen to record lows.</p><p>The 93-page report released on Saturday by the Democratic majority of the Senate judiciary committee found additional travel taken in 2021 by Thomas but not reported on his annual financial disclosure form: a private jet flight to New York’s Adirondacks in July and a jet and yacht trip to New York City sponsored by billionaire Harlan Crow in October, one of more than two dozen times detailed in the report that Thomas took luxury travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors.</p><p>The court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023, but it leaves compliance to each of the nine justices.</p><p>“The highest court in the land can’t have the lowest ethical standards,” the committee’s chair, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in a statement. He has long called for an enforceable code of ethics.</p><p>Republicans have said the investigation is a way to undermine the conservative majority court, and all the Republicans on the committee protested against the subpoenas authorized for Crow and others as part of the investigation. No Republicans signed on to the final report, and no formal report from them was expected.</p><p>Thomas has said that he was not required to disclose the trips that he and his wife, Ginni, took with Crow because the big donor is a close friend of the family and disclosure of that type of travel was not previously required. The new ethics code does explicitly require it, and Thomas has since gone back and reported some travel. Crow has maintained that he has never spoken with his friend about pending matters before the court….</p><p>The investigation found that Thomas has accepted gifts and travel from wealthy benefactors worth more than $4.75m by some estimates since his 1991 confirmation and failed to disclose much of it. “The number, value and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history,” according to the report.</p></blockquote><p>Read the rest at The Guardian.</p><p>Charlie Savage at The New York Times: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/us/politics/clarence-thomas-trips-disclosure-investigation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jE4.NCNP.unHbe2UnoEuT&amp;smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Justice Thomas Did Not Disclose Additional Trips, Democrats Say</a>.</p><p>Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose two additional trips from a billionaire patron than have previously come to light, Senate Democrats revealed on Saturday after conducting a 20-month investigation into ethics practices at the Supreme Court.</p><p>The findings were part of&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/71db41a9ee771d6f/db1c566b-full.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a 93-page report released by Democratic staff members</a>&nbsp;of the Judiciary Committee along with about 800 pages of documents. It said the two trips, both of which had been previously unknown to the public, took place in 2021 and were provided by Harlan Crow, a real estate magnate in Texas and a frequent patron of Justice Thomas’s.</p><p>One trip took place that July by private jet from Nebraska to Saranac, N.Y., where Justice Thomas stayed at Mr. Crow’s upstate retreat for five days. The other came in October, when Mr. Crow hosted Justice Thomas overnight in New York on his yacht after flying him from the District of Columbia to New Jersey for&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://jerseycatholic.org/beloved-franciscan-sister-a-life-long-mentor-of-justice-thomas-honored-with-new-jersey-cemetery-statue" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the dedication of a statue</a>.</p><p>The disclosures were one of the few new revelations in a report that otherwise largely summarized information about largess accepted by justices — and failures to disclose it — that had already become public. Justice Thomas had not disclosed the trips, even after refiling some of his past financial forms, and the committee learned about them through&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/supreme-court-ethics-reform" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a subpoena to Mr. Crow</a>, the report said.</p><p>Read more details about the investigation at the NYT link.</p><p>That’s all I have for you today; I’ll be back here on Wednesday, December 25, Christmas Day. Best wishes to all of you.</p> <p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/afd-germany/" target="_blank">#AfDGermany</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/donald-trump/" target="_blank">#DonaldTrump</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/elon-musk/" target="_blank">#ElonMusk</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/german-terror/" target="_blank">#GermanTerror</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/joe-biden/" target="_blank">#JoeBiden</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/news/" target="_blank">#news</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/politics/" target="_blank">#politics</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/social-security/" target="_blank">#SocialSecurity</a></p>